Animals Unfolded

Eating is an activity of daily living (ADL) that looms large in the work that families & I do together. We track the usual aspects of this activity: the pet’s interest in food, how much they’re eating, when they’re doing so, & what they’re eating. And that gives the pet guardians, the core members of the vet interdisciplinary team (vets, vet techs) & me good information about how well a pet is doing & coping with symptoms & changing needs as they navigate this time, whether they’re senior or geriatric, coping with recovery through injury or illness, or, as is a focus of my practice—when they’re benefiting from the program of care that is a nimal hospice & palliative care .  If a pet is demonstrating a change in appetite, our identifying what’s happening, when, how often, to what degree, & what has or hasn’t worked is par for the course & then relaying that information to the vet team. Routinely submitting quality of well being assessments ...

  Hey you. Yes, you. The one who’s grieving after your pet has died. Especially when trauma was a feature of the pet’s death or when a diagnosis was sudden, swift & explained, or not.  This is for you.  Anger is a common feature of your grieving process. But you knew that already. But you might not be able to hone on why you feel so angered, pissed off. You might have some inkling, but the anger feels wrong or incompatible with the sadness, anguish & the fogginess that’s taken over your brain & body right now.   Let me assure you that your anger is natural. Expected. Why? When an accident, someone’s negligence or a diagnosis that swoops in unannounced & departs like a clattering whisper has been a catalyst in your pet’s death, it’s accompanied by a sense of injustice & it feels terribly unfair. When these scenarios unfold, I often hear, ‘It’s not fair’ or ‘I did everything ‘right’: I did the regular vet visits & got the bloodwo...

After many years of hands-on work in animal hospice and palliative care, keeping pets comfortable who are in their final years-to-days is my jam. I’ve had the good fortune of discovering and learning many things along the way and helping families near or far .  But I’m going to show you that you have the ability to provide an enhanced level of comfort for your own pet right now.   Pets who are feeling unwell—especially those who are experiencing pain or nausea—really have a tough time. This includes those with liver disease, or late-stage cancer, and especially those with airway issues like Geriatric Onset Laryngeal Paralysis & Polyneuropathy (GOLPP) and primary or secondary lung masses. They experience trouble staying cool or more accurately, feeling cool . And in pets with airway issues, they can’t breathe and pant as efficiently and that can contribute to them working even harder to breathe, and as importantly, anxiety. This isn’t good for any patient, nor their car...

There are countless ways the human-animal bond can be strengthened, but one that lots of pet guardians really love is co-sleeping. As a pet ages, though, many wonder whether it’s feasible due to some age related problems like incontinence , and as importantly, the pet’s safety: plenty of my families have expressed they’re understandably concerned after their dog has fallen out of bed.  Since the bulk of my practice is devoted to palliative and hospice care support offering overnight stays, I can attest to my families’ concerns about an aging dog’s changing ability to judge the edge of the bed, especially at night.  Some pet guardians decide that doing away with the frame of the bed makes most sense since it lowers the height of the bed considerably, while others have gone in a different direction to keep things safe while not changing their cherished routine. The video below highlights one budget-friendly way that’s done.  With over 20 years of experience in pet...

Many guardians discover as they tend to pets in their final months, their appetite just isn’t the same as it once was. It’s not a happy observation. It’s important to understand that pets aren’t giving up or being willful about their desire to eat: it’s something that can emerge with that time of life.  Disease processes can affect a pet’s appetite, along with medications and changes in physiology can impact how food tastes to them. Pain of all sources most definitely plays a role, in fact it’s the most common reason behind appetite challenges, with anxiousness following closely. Pets who’ve entered the period that leads up to animal hospice supported natural death—usually three months prior, give or take—most certainly see a decrease in food intake, along with other signals, and that’s expected and interpreted differently. While that is a topic for another time, what I will be focusing in on here is that messy, grey area in those final months when families really struggle since...